Scotland Malawi Partnership launches BuyMalawian 2018 campaign
The Scotland Malawi Partnership (SMP) will host its 2018 BuyMalawian campaign between the 5th and the 19th March, spanning Fair Trade Fortnight, Commonwealth Day and David Livingstone’s birthday.
The Buy Malawi Strategy was originally launched by the President of Malawi in April 2016. The Scotland Malawi Partnership supported this strategy by hosting its inaugural BuyMalawian campaign in 2017, successfully reaching 300,000 people on social media, with coverage in the local, Scottish and Malawian media, and engaging dozens of MSPs.
Objectives:
BuyMalawian 2018 sets out to support the Malawian economy and develop the Scotland-Malawi relationship by:
Raising awareness of, and building Scottish markets for, Malawian exports available in the UK;
Promoting Malawi as a world-class tourism and cultural destination;
Encouraging and supporting sustainable and ethical investment into Malawi;
Developing a public and media narrative which associates ‘brand Malawi’ with quality;
Identifying blockers to increased, sustainable and equitable UK-Malawi trade and mobilising structures across government, parliament, business and civil society to mitigate these challenges;
Encouraging and supporting the c94,000 Scots with existing Malawi civic links to increase the impact of their individual partnerships by supporting the Malawian economy through their own spending power;
Helping build a constructive synergy between the ‘aid’ and ‘trade’ agendas;
Raising public awareness of, and support for, Scotland’s longstanding friendship with Malawi.
Events:
There are five key dates in the BuyMalawi 2018 campaign so far: mobilizing school links, parliamentary links, cultural links, the Commonwealth, and faith-based links:
Monday 5th March: Campaign Launch at Kirklandneuk Primary School
We will launch the campaign on the 5th March at Kirklandneuk Primary School, Renfrew, with the school’s choir singing a selection of Malawian songs. This will be an external facing event with strong media engagement, live streaming on social media and the involvement of the local community as well as the local MP, MSPs and the local Council. Other schools across Scotland will be encouraged to be involved through the fortnight.
Wednesday 7th March: Malawi Cross Party Group and All-Party Parliamentary Group:
We will have two concurrent meetings, joined by a live video link, of the new Malawi All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) in Westminster and the Malawi Cross Party Group in Holyrood. This is, to our knowledge, the first time the two Parliaments have been linked in this way, with a joint meeting of sister APPGs/CPGs. At the Westminster meeting our headline speaker will Nick O’Donohoe, the Chief Executive of CDC (formerly Commonwealth Development Corporation) who visited Malawi last year. At the Holyrood meeting our headline speaker will be Bernard Kaunda, the Chief Executive of Mzuzu Coffee. Both meetings will have samples of Malawian goods.
Sunday 11th March: Lake of Stars One Day Festival:
The SMP is supporting a special one-day Lake of Stars Festival taking place at the Glasgow Art School on the 11th March. This is part of the world-famous Lake of Stars festival which takes place on the shores of Lake Malawi each September – one of Africa’s biggest and best cultural festivals. The Glasgow festival will include a 10am-5pm BuyMalawian market of stalls promoting Malawian products, and a special Scotland Malawi Partnership stage with musicians, speakers and other performers through the day. Activities will decamp to the Centre for Contemporary Arts at 5pm, and return to the Arts School for a lively series of gigs featuring Malawian and African artists from 7.30-11.30pm, with a African DJ-set after party to 2am.
Monday 12th March: Malawi Commonwealth Lunch (tbc):
We will host a Malawi Commonwealth lunch, as part of the ‘Commonwealth Big Lunch’ campaign which runs from the 12th March to the start of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in April. Bernard Kaunda, the Chief Executive of Mzuzu Coffee, would likely speak again, we would have Malawian music, and we would be serving Malawian produce.
Sunday 18th March: Campaign close: Livingstone’s Birthday:
We will be working with churches and faith groups across Scotland to have special services commemorating David Livingstone’s birthday and officially bringing the BuyMalawian 2018 campaign to a close.
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